Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Marcum sets a date

TORONTO — Back after a day of fighting a nasty cold, but feeling better today. Pretty relaxed morning over here at the Rogers Centre, where the Jays lounged around playing cards and listening to the Bloodhound Gang. Awesome.

While hanging out in the clubhouse, Shaun Marcum strolled by and said he’s down to go under the knife on Sept. 30. Dr. James Andrews will perform the surgery in Birmingham, Ala. In a best-case scenario, Marcum could be throwing again by June or so and maybe even pitching a few innings for the Jays by next September.

Also, young Travis Snider — he of the .333 average and .549 slugging since being promoted to Toronto — will not be taking part in the Arizona Fall League this October. Snider was originally down to play in the AFL, but that was before the Blue Jays decided to call him up for the season’s final month.

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I’m glad to see Marcum’s operation scheduled early, although I doubt very much if he will pitch next year or at least be effective when he does. However, he should be good as new or even better than new in spring of 2010.

All things considered, Richmond has had a reasonable start so far. Too bad we’re making Dice K look like Cy Young. I hope Minnesota win today or we could see the Sox celebrate on our field. On the other hand maybe that’s a good thing and will send a message to ownership.

It looks like Snider is going to be our DH next year or the Jays would have sent him to the AFL. I expect the AFL will be extremely disappointed since Snider has been one of the players the league has really hiped in generating fan interest in the AFL.

Although, Travis Sinder is no where near the finished product, he has certainly showed he’s close enough to belong here. I expect his time with Cito and the coaches will be far more beneficial than AAA. It’s good news as far as I’m concerned and means there’s more flexibility in players and potential dollars for other areas.

I still think we should have called up J.P Arrencibia instead of Thigpen and I think we’d have seen similar results with him as we have with Snider. I can’t imagine Thigpen is long with the Jay organization with numerous other prospects coming behind Arrencibia.

It seems unrealistic to expect Marcum back for next September. Liriano missed all of last year and wasn’t Major League ready until after the All Star break this year. BJ missed most of last year and still isn’t Major League ready. Don’t rush Marcum back.

hey i was wondering what the criteria is for an injured player to stay with the team. marcum is still with the team now, but mcgowan for example is not. do the players have a choice or is it is a team decision?

With Sabathia and Sheets likely on their way out of Millwaukee, rumour has it the the Brewers are dangling Prince Fielder for a front end starter. What does everyone think of Halladay to the Brewers for Fielder, Hardy and Gallardo?

To get talent, you have to give up talent. It’d be nice to say that the Jays should trade Overbay, Parrish, Richmond and MacDonald for Fielder, Gallardo and Hardy. But the Brewers wouldn’t go for that. The Jays don’t have the cash to go out and sign Sabathia and Teixeira, so they need to make some trades. Then you need to consider what the Jays have that other teams covit. Players like BJ have limited value because he has not pitched up to par since he came back. Overbay, Rolen and Rios have had very ho-hum seasons which gives them little trade value. The chips that the Jays have are Halladay and Wells. If they can make the right deals, they should move both of them to make the largest impact possible. The Jays have a pretty big shopping list: 1. Big Bat, 2. SS, 3. Leadoff hitter, 4. #2 pitcher (replace Burnett), 5. #3 pitcher (replace Marcum). The Jays need to find a way to fill 5 holes with as few moves and with spending as little cash as possible.

tanandmur
I believe it’s always the club’s decision. I think the decided factor with the Jays is when an operation is done that puts the player out for the year. Of course how the player reacts is also a factor, I’m sure.
If it’s simple operation and the player is expected to return, then they tend to have them back, just before any rehab starts.
In Marcum’s case, he’ll likley be with the team until the operaion

If the Jays play 500 ball the rest of the way Cito will have achived his goal of 10 games over 500,That makes me think he is the right man for 09,I wonder when we will know if he is going to be back or not.

The ERA and BA comparison from 92/93 to present is interesting….how much do think the ERA was affected by the fact that those years were smack dab in the steroid era? I’m betting that scoring runs on roids was easier than preventing them – no matter how juiced a pitcher is.

To the speculators.

I disagree with trading Halladay. Only because this is his team, he leads by example, and without him I bet a large portion of the Blue Jays fans just pack it in. Anybody else is fair game so long as the returns are good. I’m not a big fan of NL starting pitcher trades….with the possible exception of Josh Beckett, can anybody quickly name 2 starting pitchers that did as well or better than they did in the NL? (please no Nolan Ryan comments – dudes collecting social security) So as to Ben Sheets, pass.

I’d like to ask what everyone thinks about this though. JP et al have managed to sign some of our players (overbay, wells, rios) to some pretty heavily back-loaded contracts –affordable now, but overpriced 3-4 years from now. I think Aaron Hill contract is the only well structured one. Lets take the fact that these guys are affordable and attractive to others – and start trading them to near contenders to *push them over the top* I’m betting some of the GM’s (Marlins, Giants, Rangers, Twins) might be coerced into making a few favourable deals for some quality, underpriced help now. Keep Roy, and rebuild it all around him for 2010. 2009 can be a season long spring training.

Swagmanjay
I’d expect quite a bit. The other thing I found interesting was reviewing John Olerud’s great year. I had sort of forgot he almost hit .400 and yet, when ever there’s any chat about who is the best Jay or the best 1st baseman, he’s never considered or even in the conversation. I guess he was just too quiet.

I agree 2009 and poossibly 2010 are going to be rebuilding years. That being said remember Halliday is signed only through 2010 and he might not want to hang around, hoping this time we get it right. Right now his value is probably as high or higher than it’s ever going to be, so it is the right time to trade him.

The real heavy contract is Vernon Wells who gets $21 mill in 2010, $23 mill. in 2011 and 21 mill each year after through 2014. The only way he gets traded is if he gets really hot next year in the first half. I would expect the best we’ll be able to do is dump his contract, I can’t imagine getting anything in return.

I would like to see them trade Wells because his contract is very loaded on the back end and it will hurt the team financially in the long run,I don’t think they will get much for him because of his contract but a couple of good prospects will do just fine.Also trade Rolen even if they have to pick up 3 mil. of his contract for two years.Also sign Tex for 5 years,They will be able too with the money they save on Wells and Rolen and that means trade Overbay to make room for Tex.
You wont need a 4th outfeilder because you have Inglet.
Now they have to go after Manny and this team will be a powerhouse.
Some of the young pitchers will get all the run support they will need,That means Richmond and Purcey and whoever elce steps up will be able to grow with the team.
If they set the team up this way they can’t lose ,I say they will win at least 97 games.
Manny will have to play the DH role only and if he is not happy with that then look for someone else with his power.

There is a great deal of talk about the designated hitter for next season. My answer is to simply go with Wells, Rios, Lind and Snider as the four outfielders and rotate each through the designated hitter’s role every fourth game, thus freeing up one more position player or pitcher on the roster.

I don’t want to trade Halladay either. But they have too. I don’t think that dealing Wells will be enough to make the team competative. I think that they need to deal both in order to get what they need.

They don’t necessarily need a DH… Either a DH or a 1B or a 3B or an ****… anyone that will drive in 100 RBI with regularity. DH is just being used loosely for a big bat because most DH are expected to put up big numbers.

Garland is a #5 starter at best. His W’s are bloated because he plays for the best team in baseball. I’d rather see the Jays take a chance on a young guy and let him learn at the major league level. Cheaper too.

Shows you what the people who matter, think of our minor league system when Syracuse tell us to get lost, Buffalo do the same and we’re forced to go to where no one else wants to go-Las Vegas. Great Move JP.

Oh, and the other sparkling move today was claiming Reid Santos from Cleveland. All this guy did last year was earn a 7.20 era in AAA-with opposing teams hitting .378. Obviously deserves a spot on our 40 man roster. I’d bet he’s JP’s replacemnt for Marcum. Two brilliant moves in one day.

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